National Corn Dog Day

How to Celebrate National Corn Dog Day

While some people might not think this is a reason to get excited, Corn Dog lovers mark this on the calendar as one of their favorite days of the year!

Celebrations can range from the simple to the outrageous, but be sure to tell everyone about it and invite them to join in on the fun, as corn dogs are better when enjoyed with a loved one.

Try these Corn Dog related ideas for celebrating the day:

Eat a Corn Dog (Or Several!)

National Corn Dog Day is a day to finally go out and get yourself your Corn Dog fix, whether buying them frozen in the store and throwing them in the oven, or heading out to a local county fair and buying one straight from a vendor.

Some people may even want to expand their horizons by trying a cornbrat, which is a bratwurst deep-fried in cornbread, which is basically just a gourmet corn dog–only a bit more substantial. Yum!

Get a Special Deal at Sonic Restaurants

One of the largest corn dog serving chains in the US, with locations in 44 out of the 50 states (and looking to expand internationally in the near future), Sonic typically offers a special for the day, such as 50 cent corn dogs (normally $1.29).

Wienerschnitzel is a California based chain that has stores in 10 states and Guam. They have been serving corn dogs since 1965 and have often delighted customers by offering two corn dogs for $1 in honor of National Corn Dog Day (normally $1.49 each).

Other chains and individual restaurants that serve this delicious treat often give special customer discounts in honor of National Corn Dog Day. If a Sonic or Wienerschnitzel isn’t nearby, it’s worth asking at local restaurants to find out which ones have a special offer.

Share Corn Dogs at Work

Those who work in a large corporation may be able to get their company to make plans in advance to sponsor a corn dog food truck to come to the premises for a special lunch.

For smaller employers, grabbing some frozen corn dogs from a bulk grocery store and serving them to employees is a fun and rather inexpensive way to build rapport with staff.

Join A National Corn Dog Day Celebration or Festival

Folks in Oregon started it, so that would be the ideal place to celebrate the day! But various cities throughout the US and the rest of the world have also now joined in.

Check out local community listings to find one nearby. If there isn’t one? Consider getting one started!

History of National Corn Dog Day

This American treat has an interesting and multicultural history. Corn Dogs can trace their heritage from the sausage makers of Germany and, by extension, those who immigrated to Texas in the United States.

While the state certainly comes with more than its share of hot weather, the Germans who immigrated there weren’t intimidated. They moved there and set up business to sell their sausages.

As it turns out, those German Texans apparently found that their sausages were not well received. Because of this, they decided to be innovative, dipping the sausages in a distinctly American breading (cornbread) and frying them.

The first corn dog on record was documented in 1927, when a patent was submitted to the US Patent Office describing the process of making corn dogs in this way:

I have discovered that articles of food such, for instance, as wieners, boiled ham, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, sliced peaches, pineapples, bananas and like fruit, and cherries, dates, figs, strawberries, etc., when impaled on sticks and dipped in batter, which includes in its ingredients a self-rising flour, and then deep-fried in a vegetable oil at a temperature of about 390 °F [200 °C], the resultant food product on a stick for a handle is a clean, wholesome and tasty refreshment.

Since then, corn dogs have become incredibly popular, especially at events like fairs and county festivals. In addition, they have found a place in everything from school lunches to being served on military vessels like the USS George Washington.

And, of course, frozen versions of the corn dog (on a stick or in bite-sized mini form) can be purchased frozen at the grocery store and then heated up at home. It just goes to show there’s no wrong place to eat a Corn Dog!

In celebration of this simple yet satisfying treat, a Corn Dog Celebration was inaugurated in the United States in 1992. Beginning in Corvallis, Oregon, the first one was a simple gathering of a few folks who wanted to eat corn dogs and watch basketball.

The event grew bigger the following year when it expanded to other cities and included tater tots and beer. Eventually corporate sponsorships came through for the event (Foster Farms, an American foods company, and Jones Soda).

In 2008, the event peaked with nearly 5000 different parties on five continents, including one in Antarctica! Since then, the hype isn’t always quite as high, but this is still certainly a day worth celebrating.